HTC finally throws off the shackles of the M8
Back in the noughties, HTC was constantly fighting with Samsung for supremacy over the Android market. However, a series of mistakes and failed products has eaten into HTC’s profits and the company has been in a nosedive ever since. Although both the South Korean company’s HTC One (M8) and M9 were excellent phones, they failed to sell; the latter suffering due to a perceived lack of innovation from its previous iteration. HTC has decided to throw itself fully into the premium end of the mid-range market with the A9 at £419/$499.99 with reasonably high-end specs.
The first thing we have to mention about the A9 is the fact that it is the first non-Nexus handset to run Android Marshmallow. Yes, HTC’s non-flagship is going to beat the likes of Samsung, LG, Sony and even Motorola to the punch in getting the very latest version of Android. This could prove crucial to users who want to get the new operating system as quickly as possible without rooting their device.
One of the major criticisms of the M9 was the fact that HTC took no risks with the design. HTC has steered away from the look of the M range with the A9 by flattening the handset, making the huge camera lens smaller, shifting the camera to the very top of the handset and placing a fingerprint scanner on the front. This design departure has been a success and the A9 looks like a sleek, premium device. It feels top quality too, encased in an all-metal unibody that screams class.
On the other hand, that fingerprint sensor heralds the end of one of HTC’s major selling points. The dual front-facing speakers have gone and have been replaced by a single speaker on the bottom of the handset. Nevertheless, the A9 has lost none of its audio quality as BoomSound technology is still to be found inside the device with Dolby Audio surround sound and 24-bit lossless audio. The sound quality is staggering, even through earphones where you can really feel thumping bass and pure high notes. If you love listening to music through your phone, this could be the one for you.
HTC has always had a bit of a love-hate relationship with its camera technology. It tried to shift the goalposts with UltraPixel in the M8, but that really didn’t take off as much as it had hoped. As with the M9, the UltraPixel camera remains, but only on the front; the A9 also sports a 13MP camera on the rear with an f/2.0 aperture. Now this is one of the most impressive camera apps we’ve seen. The pro settings are easy to use and, once you’ve got the hang of them, they can produce superbly detailed images. When compared to the LG G3, the A9’s detailing on clouds was superior and much truer. The auto settings aren’t the best so you probably will find yourself playing around with the settings a little more than you’d like, but the final result can be stunning.
While the Qualcomm Snapdragon 617 is a few steps behind the 810 or Samsung’s Exynos range, this is still a nippy device and you notice very little lag or waiting time. Videos and games play smoothly, even when there are other apps running in the background, so the 2GB RAM clearly isn’t having to work overtime. It does heat up quite quickly, but it doesn’t reach the uncomfortable levels that we found with the Sony Xperia Z5.
While the five-inch FHD screen is fantastically clear and pixel-free, it is lacking a bit of brightness. While the likes of the Galaxy S6 and G4 can almost hurt your eyes at their top setting, even at full whack the A9 can’t get a terribly vibrant screen.
HTC has dragged itself kicking and screaming into the upper mid-range war, but whether it is quite worth the price tag remains to be seen.
Verdict
This is a really smartly packaged phone with only a few minor flaws, including its large price.
Technical specs
Operating system - Android 6.0 Marshmallow
Processor - Qualcomm Snapdragon 617 1.5GHz octa-core
Memory - 16GB storage / 2GB RAM
Dimensions - 145.8 x 70.8 x 7.3 mm
Weight - 143g
Display size - 5-inch
Display resolution - 1080 x 1920 pixels (441 ppi)
Front camera - 4MP with UltraPixel
Rear camera - 13MP
Connectivity - 4G, Bluetooth 4.1, NFC
Expansion slot - microSD up to 2TB